The Thanksgiving dinner is usually attended by family and friends plus one regular guest: the Thanksgiving turkey. There are several theories about how this bird became a permanent fixture of Thanksgiving celebrations. Purists are careful to say this bird may or may not have been in the original menu when the Wampanoag Indians and the Colonists celebrated the year’s harvest. Despite this ambiguity, having this dish at the center of the table has been the quintessential culinary symbol of Thanksgiving through the centuries.

The time honored way of preparing this bird in the United States is to roast it in an oven and serve it with gravy, cranberry sauce, cornbread, and yams. Through the years, however, cooks all world have found new ways to give this dish their personal mark. You now have oven roasted, rotisserie broiled, barbecued, and deep fried. Moreover, even the usual side dishes have changed a bit in many homes.[Read more…]